Roller type liquid coating applicator



Oct. 10, 1950 E. E. LONG ROLLER TYPE LIQUID comma APPLICATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 8, 1946 F/G. Z

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INVENTOR. I ELBERT E. LONG ATTORNEY Oct. 10, 1950 Y E.E. LONG 7 ROLLER TYPE LIQUID COATING APPLICATOR Filed Aug. 8, 194a 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 il 3o '4 5 4 as 7 a 35 3s 36 as 2s FIG. 5

INVENTOR.

ELBERT E. LONG ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 10, 1950 ROLLER TYPE LIQUID COATING APPLICATOR Elbert E. Long, Kalamazoo, Mich., assignor to Long Brothers Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., a partnership composed of Elbert E. Long and George W. Long Application August 8, 1946, Serial No. 689,228

' 3 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to liquid applicators and more particularly to a device for applying paint or other liquids to wall surfaces or the like.

The application of paint in the usual manner by means of a hand brush which must be frequently dipped into a paint container, is both time consuming and objectionable for several reasons. Unless protective coverings are employed and extreme care is exercised, paint will and does drip and spatter from the brush onto floors, woodwork and furniture. In the hands of an inexperienced person, a brush may at times be excessively filled with paint with the result that a relatively heavy coating will be deposited on the surface in some places and, unless carefully brushed out, will result in a spotty and streaked appearance after drying. Further, where the usual paint brush is employed on sand finished, pebbled or other rough walls, careful brushing in various directions is necessary in order to completely coat the small irregular surfaces and, moreover, the individual hair strands making up the brush are easily caught and pulled from the base. thereof leaving them on the painted surface and soon rendering the brush inefficient, if not entirely useless.

Roller applicators, which, in use, are manually dipped in an open container of paint and then rolled along a Wall surface to be coated, have been previously employed. For some purposes and in some ways such rollers obviate some of the above objections to a paint brush. However, one serious objection to rollers of this type arises from the fact that the paint being used is necessarily applied thereto as heavily adjacent the ends thereof as to the intermediate portion, with the result that a sharp paint line is left between the coated and the uncoated portions of the surface to which it is applied, and, inasmuch as no means of blending the successively coated areas is provided, a series of lines or streaks will appear where one coated area overlaps another.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a liquid applicator of the roller type wherein liquid may be selectively applied to the roller while in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a liquid applicator of the roller type with manually controlled means for selectively and automatically applying liquid to the roller while in operation.

Still another object of the invention is to pro- .ing, thus forming a liquid tight container.

vide a roller type liquid applicator adapted to successively coat adjacent areas of a wall surface, with means for distributing the liquid to the applicator roll in a manner to effect blending of said adjacent coated areas and eliminating sharp, marginal outlines thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the liquid applicator unit comprising the present invention.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation view of the device.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line IIIIII of Figure 1 and looking in the direction indicated.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of the device taken substantially along the lines lVIV of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a view showing the cooperating rollers and taken substantially along the line VV of Figure 3.

Referring now to the drawings, reference numeral l0 indicates a liquid receptacle preferably formed of relatively light metal and of a size and shape which will permit it to be held and manipulated by one hand of an operator.

. The container ID may comprise spaced front and Spaced end walls I4 and [5 having overlapping flanges l6 may be secured to the front, rear and bottom walls of the receptacle in any suitable manner such as by welding, brazing or solder- It will be obvious that, if desired, the container [0 may be cast in one piece or stamped from a A single metal blank.

The upper portion of the front wall H of and a roller 18' having a core of any suitable the receptacle I0 is transversely cut-away, as at ll,

material 22, which will be .hereinafter referred to as a brush, is positioned around the periphery of the roller l8, extending substantially the length thereof and may be suitably secured thereto in any desired manner, as by a staple or nail.

A hollow cylindrical feed roller 23 is positioned in the lower portion of the receptacle iii to be in contact with the liquid therein and is provided with axially aligned bearing pins 24 in the ends thereof which are journaled in a pair of substantially V-shaped bearing brackets 26 which may be suitably secured to or formed integrally with the respective end walls M and i5. By the provision of a mounting of this character the roller 23 may be quickly and easily removed for cleaning purposes. In order to prevent this roller from floating on the liquid in the receptacle,

thus affecting its vertical position in accordance with the liquid level, a series of openings or notches may be formed in a wall thereof sumcient to permit liquid to flow to the interior :thereof.

A suitably formed handle 2? adapted to be grasped by one hand of the operator may be secured to the rear wall ii of the receptacle iii in any desired manner and may include a base portion .28 extending rearwardly in the plane of the lower wall l3 forming a supporting foot for the device when not in use or when being refilled with liquid. The handle 2'! may further include an upturned flange 29 at the point where the upper end thereof is secured to the wall l2 of the receptacle and forms a loose bearing for an actuating rod 30 extending therethrough in close proximity to the upper end of the handle.

One end of the actuating rod 35, exteriorly of the receptacle, is provided with a head .3! and is positioned to be conveniently depressed by the thumb of an operator while grasping the handle 21. The opposite end of the actuating rod'Bi! extends interiorly of the receptacle throughthe loose bearing29 and is providedwith a U-shaped bearing bracket 32 which carries, i rotatable relationship thereto, a third or intermediate roller 33 having bearing pins 35 and spacing washers 36, and which is adapted to be moved into and out of contact with both the rollers 68 and 23.

V This intermediate or transfer roller 33 may be preferably formed of wood or similar material, although it will be obvious that other materials will serve equally as well.

It should be here pointed out that a rather loose fitting engagement between the actuating rod 30 and its bearing 29 is desirable in order to compensate for manufacturing inaccuracies and to permit the intermediate roller 33 to properly adjust itself with respect to the rollers 13 and 23 when engaged therewith.

In order to urge the intermediate roller 33 rearwardly out of normal contact with the rollers l8 and 23, a compression spring 34 is interposed between the rear wall l2 of the receptacle and the head 3! of the actuating rod 30. Manual depression of the rod 30, and its suitable directing with respect to the positions of the rollers I8 and 23, will effect interengagement of all three rollers, thus transferring any desired quantity of liquid from the feed roller 23 to the brush roller l8.

By reference to Figure 5 of the drawings, it Will be noted that the intermediate transfer roller 33 is slightly shorter in length than the brush roller l8. Accordingly, in operation, when paint is applied to the brush roller l8 from the intermediate roller 33, the entire length of the brush roller l8 will not receive a direct application. In other words a relatively small peripheral portion at each end of the brush roller l8 will receive no direct application of liquid, but, due to the absorbent nature of the material 22 covering the roller N3, the paint thus applied thereto will seep out toward the ends thereof resulting in a lesser amount of paint being available adjacent the ends of the brush roller l8 for application to the surface being coated. Thus, as adjacent surfaces are coated, a slight overlapping of one strip with respect to the other will result in approximately the same amount of paint being applied to the overlapped portion of the coated surface as to the remainder thereof, effecting a blending at the juncture of adjacent coated areas leaving a smooth unstreaked appearance of the Wall as a whole after the paint has dried.

In order to insure an even application of paint over the entire length of the transfer roller 33, thus maintaining the proper relationship and functioning of the transfer roller 33, the brush roller l3 and the absorbent material 22 as above described, the feed roller 23, as shown, is also preferably slightly longer than the transfer roller.

In operation, the receptacle l 8 may be partially filled with the paint to be applied, the receptacle grasped in a hand of the operator and the brush portion 22 of the roller [8 applied directly to the surface to be coated. As the device is moved across the surface, the roller l'8 will, of course, be rotated. When it is desired to apply paint to the brush roller 58, and thus to the wall surface, the operator may depress the actuating rod 38 with his thumb bringing the intermediate transfer roller 33 in contact with the lower feed roller 23 and the brush roller l8 whereupon liquid will be applied to the brush. When a sufficient quantity of paint has been applied to the brush, the operator may release the actuating rod 38 and the compression spring 34 will automatically retract the intermediate roller 33 to the position shown in Figure 3 of the drawings. As the brush roller 98 continues to roll across the wall surface being coated, paint will be applied quickly and evenly. When it is again desired to apply paint to the brush roller E8 the operator may again depress the actuating rod at bringing the intermediate roller into contact with the brush 22, without discontinuing the motion of the deviceor lifting it from the surface being coated.

It will thus be seen that by the present invention a device has been provided which is simple in design, economical to manufacture and obviates the many well known disadvantages of other known devices intended for similar purposes. Moreover, the present device is semiautomatic in operation, resulting in a great saving of time in painting a Wall surface and, due to the relative size and arrangement of rollers, when dry, it is substantially free of spots or streaks. i

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications in construction and design may be made in the device as herein illustrated and described without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention which is to be limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a liquid applicator having a liquidreceptacle, an applicator roller rotatably carried by said receptacle and adapted to contact a surface to be coated and to extend partially into said receptacle, a liquid absorbent covering mounted on said applicator roller, a hollow feed roller in contact with liquid in said receptacle and having openings formed in the end thereof for permitting the passage of said liquid from the exterior to the interior of said feed roller, V-shaped journal on opposed interior walls of said receptacle at each of the ends of said feed roller supporting said feed roller against lateral and downward vertical movement, an intermediate roller in said receptacle shorter than either said applicator roller or said feed roller positioned midway between the ends of both said applicator roller and said feed roller whereby excessive quantities of liquid present on the extremities of said feed roller will not be transmitted to said applicator roller, means reciprocably and pivotally mounting said intermediate roller for retractably contacting said applicator roller and said feed roller, a stop on said reciprocable means spaced from said intermediate roller, yieldable means parallel to said reciprocable means and connected to said stop for urging said intermediate roller out of contact with said applicator rollerand said feed roller and manually operable means resisted by said yieldable means for urging said intermediate roller into contact with said brush and feed rollers, whereby said intermediate roller may selectively transmit liquid from the surface of said feed roller to the surface of said brush roller.

2. In a liquid applicator having a liquid receptacle, an applicator roller rotatably carried by i said receptacle and adapted to contact a surface to be coated and to extend partially into said receptacle; a, liquid absorbent covering mounted on said applicator roller; a hollow feed roller in contact with liquid in said receptacle and having openings of substantial size formed in the end thereof for permitting the passage of liquid from the exterior to the interior of said feed roller whereby said feed roller will at all times sink in said liquid; a V-shaped journal having its apex extending downwardly on opposed interior walls of said receptacle at each of the ends of said feed roller supporting said feed roller against lateral and downward vertical movement; an intermediate roller within said receptacle and spaced above the liquid within said receptacle shorter than either said applicator roller or said feed roller positioned midway between the ends of said feed roller, said applicator roller on each of its ends extending beyond said intermediate roller a distance equal to the normal overlap of each strip of liquid applied to the surface being coated, means reciprocably mounting said intermediate roller for pivotally and concurrently engaging both said feed roller and said applicator roller; resilient means associated with said intermediate roller urging said intermediate roller out of engagement with both said feed roller and said applicator roller, and manually operable means registered by said yieldable means for urging said intermediate roller into contact with said applicator and feed rollers all so constructed and arrangedthat said intermediate roller may selectively transmit liquid from the surface of said feed roller to the surface of said applicator roller and excessive quantities of liquid present on the extremities of said feed roller will not be transmitted to said applicator roller.

3. In a liquid coating applicator having a liquid receptacle, an applicator roller extending partially into and carried by said liquid receptacle and adapted to contact a surface to be coated, a liquid absorbent covering mounted on said applicator roller, a feed roller in contact with the liquid in said receptacle, and an intermediate roller in said receptacle connected and arranged to transfer liquid from said feed roller to said applicator roller, said applicator roller on each of its ends extending beyond said intermediate roller a distance equal to the normal overlap of each strip of liquid applied to the surface being coated, said intermediate roller being of lesser length than said feed roller and positioned midway between the ends of said feed roller whereby excessive quantities of liquid present on the extremities of said feed roller will not be transmitted to said applicator roller.

ELBERT E. LONG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 301,402 Tangenberg July 1, 1884 383,037 Breese May 15, 1888 1,980,402 Hagstrom Nov. 13, 1934 2,118,719 Wraal May 24, 1938 55 2,424,323 Millholland July 22, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 292,005 Great Britain Oct. 17, 1927 

